Hand it to Playboy for coming up with a non-Playboyish list of kick-ass dive bars. Usually the mag's aspirational demographic is the single malt, slick, top-shelf type. So it's refreshing to see this list, which neatly wraps up some of the country's best dives, including the Matchbox in Chicago, Billy Ray's in Portland, and New York's own fave sin bin, Subway Inn (where this author has made many a bad decision). But they're not just dive bars. They are so much more than that.

Writes Playboy's awesomely named scribe Steve Dollar: "They're dusty, unread archives of a city's history, full of teetering tables with professional drinkers muttering bad jokes to themselves and, on a good night, a gallery of mugs that would do any police station line-up proud." My favorite highlights: Matchbox's cozy feel and cranky crowd; the $1.50 pints at Billy Rays, a neighborhood hangout that's "fittingly low-key and welfare-check cheap," and of course the Subway Inn's gritty time capsule. Go ahead and ask for a microbrew. I dare you.